


Snapshot Story Ideas

by the17thmuse



Category: Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Naruto, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: BAMF Bucky Barnes, Black Lion Shiro, Gen, Half-Uchiha Tobirama, Hellhound!Hatake, Hux has DID - Dissociative Identity Disorder, Omega Senju Tobirama, Spy/Assassin!Riddle family
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-20
Updated: 2020-06-17
Packaged: 2020-10-24 20:56:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 7,405
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20712404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the17thmuse/pseuds/the17thmuse
Summary: I have what certain authors call a 'running brain' and this is basically a collection of fic prompts, plotbunnies, ideas and headcanons and whatever else I have posted or stashed in Tumblr, AO3 comment threads and email drafts that I lack the will and time to write.If anyone gets inspired or want to use or adopt any of the ideas here, you're very welcome to it. Just please leave a comment saying so.the List so far:1 - VLD (Black Lion!Shiro AU version 1: Kerberos abduction compliant.)2 - VLD (Black Lion!Shiro AU version 2: In which Black-Shiro smashes a warship.)3 - Harry Potter (James Bond-esque AU. In which the Riddles are a family of ex-spies and assassins.)4 - Naruto (Hellhound AU. In which the Hatake are semi-possessed by their precious dead.)5 - Naruto (TajiTobi Death Island Vacation + A/B/O AU)6 - Naruto (Demon Child AU plotbunnies. In which Tobirama is a half-Uchiha bastard.)7 - Star Wars TFA (Old Incomplete prompt fic: Hux hates the Republic because they killed his mother + DID + crossdressing)8 - Captain America (A/B/O AU + Stucky + assassin Bucky & Dr. Erskine)





	1. BLACK—break my heart (or the one where Shiro IS the Black Lion)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (break my heart, break my brain, break my soul…it’s one of those ideas.)
> 
> **Warnings: None **
> 
> **Relationships:** Zarkon & Black Lion (Voltron)
> 
> **Tags:** Reincarnation, Black Lion Shiro, crack and angst, the Black Bayard is Not MIA
> 
> Originally written in 12/8/18 and posted on Tumblr
> 
> I honestly have no idea how this happened, but I think I can blame certain inspirations and ideas like:
> 
> \- reincarnation, specifically the cross-gender type  
\- transmutation  
\- headcanon of the Voltron Lions being an all-female pride with Black being head lioness  
\- the Lions evolving during their 10,000 year hiatus + Shiro being literally merged with Black for three seasons (and how the writers didn’t do any weird side-effects with it, which is disappointing)  
\- Shiro and Black vs Zarkon in the Astral Plane in the space mall episode
> 
> It started out as a Shiro-merged-with-Black idea but then snowballed into this…whatever this is.
> 
> Comment thread with Mythril (fantacination) on the origins of the Shiro-is-Black AU idea in https://archiveofourown.org/comments/203071742  
  
And yeah, some part of it was also the fact they (the writers) never elaborated where Shiro came from, the poor guy. (No family for him, how dare they.) And I had a lot of fun thinking of various (funny or admittedly plain weird) scenarios for Shiro's origins. Including the infiltrator-robeast/clone route, the adopted-by-yokai one, and a raised-in-a-cult-but-left-it-all-behind origin.

Zarkon managed to retrieve the Black Lion after waking from quintessence-overdose ten thousand years ago, and everything went wrong. Voltron was never meant to turn on itself, lion against lion, and Black was shattered and lost to the void in the end, ultimately by Zarkon’s insanity and the Paladins’ regretful hands.

Without Voltron there was no hope. Their only choice was to keep the four remaining Lions out of Zarkon’s clutches. And when the Paladins were killed one by one, the Lions were hidden away and Allura was given the key to find them again.

But Black had not been destroyed, not really, merely turned into something other than refined alloy and quintessence. For everything is starstuff, and where there is quintessence, there is life. It took millennia, but the remnants of her eventually cemented thought, discovered emotion, found form and lived life anew.

No one could explain Takashi Shirogane’s birthmarks that look more like scars, his white tuft of hair and missing hand and midarm. How he could locate every nearby celestial body without the use of instruments, never ever got lost (even when spun to vertigo and blindfolded), and kept his flight path true. Or how his admittedly slow prosthetic improved by heaps and bounds, and had a sudden white and black color scheme change and sometimes glowed. 

“Don’t be ridiculous Matt, we’ve been pulling all-nighter’s for almost a week on this project. It’s just sleep deprivation.”

Or his unparalleled love for space. He has ambitions, alright?

Not that any of this strangeness stopped him from fulfilling his dreams of reaching the stars. The Garrison initially refused him on grounds of his arm, but his scores were the highest they’ve seen in anyone (until Shiro’s so-called stray/protege Keith came along).

The landing on Kerberos was supposedly a breathtaking affair, but Shiro only felt the thrum of silence, of something waiting to happen. Whatever it was, the sight of the alien spacecraft—Galra warship, how did he know this?—wasn’t it either. Everything felt too familiar. Somewhere deep down, he knew them all, understood every alien syllable spoken and felt anticipation and homecoming. And then Shiro saw HIM.

He had meant to say, “Please, we come from a peaceful planet! W-We mean you no harm! We’re unarmed!” but what came out instead was an ancient, pained, shocked and yearning, “My Paladin.”

(Shiro, NO.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So anyway, the "BLACK-break my" AUs (there's more than one) are kind of fluid and cemented in some parts on how Shiro-Black selves work. The Lions were made of quintessence-infused alloy. Only like can harm/destroy like. But even if the alloy is destroyed (being the physical aspect) the quintessence will still remain, because quintessence is life energy/soul/whatever and energy cannot be destroyed or made, only transformed. But Black wasn't fully destroyed; the remains of her alloy body kind of ended up in the Astral Plane to recuperate/regenerate? 
> 
> I headcanoned that since there seems to be some importance with the Black Lion and the Astral Plane, that she isn't just a Lion of the Skies or Space as much as she is a Lion of Dimensions. That she exists both in the physical and metaphysical plane, and is most tied to the latter. And the quintessence that was left behind (which was actually a lot of her) ended up taking the less than 10,000 year scenic route to existential evolution and eventually became the equivalent of a soul that became Shiro. (Does that even make sense?) And Shiro was born bearing the scars that 'killed' Black, because birthmarks are apparently the rule of how you died in your previous life. Except the trauma was so powerful/tied so much to Black's existence that he was born missing a limb as opposed to having an arm covered with an extensive birthmark.
> 
> The 'transformation' is actually more of Shiro connecting to his Lion-self in the Astral Plane and calling/bringing it out into the physical plane. But that's where the real questions start. If Shiro manages to bring his Lion-body out does that mean he perceives reality in two widely different bodies? Does it work like a switch? If his human body gets destroyed, his quintessence will end up in his only remaining body? Does Black have a hammer-space dimension to hide her human body because human body and astral plane do not mix?
> 
> The Paladin-Lion bond hasn't reawakened yet by the end of BLACK-break my heart. Not until Zarkon and Shiro lay eyes on each other, I guess. Not sure if via screen works too. Or maybe it reawakens at a certain distance? You can say that Shiro is...compromised, at best. There is a separation between Shiro and Black, but not like DID. More of 'soul' memory stuff and déjà vu. With the Shiro genuinely freaking out and planning ways to escape because hostile aliens, but the Black part of him is happy, pained and just missing her Paladin so much.
> 
> There was the idea to have Zarkon just mind-meld with Shiro via the bond to learn everything on Takashi Shirogane (just as he learned and explored every inch of the Black Lion), from his family, friends, boyfriends, favorites, dreams, likes, passions and other stuff. It will be very invasive and frightening. Maybe...Zarkon knew about Shiro's escape plans and he let the pilot leave the 'emperor only' (safe) rooms and encounter an ambush of unfriendly higher-ranked Galra (who do not believe in the Black Lion nonsense and made the mistake of thinking Shiro is a mere pet they could just touch and hurt). Maybe the emperor lets it play to both teach Shiro the futility of escape and cement the human's status as his possession.
> 
> There was also the possibility that instead of Shiro turning into a huge robot lion or vice versa, he and Black exist in separate bodies but one soul/mind/being. That while the alloy/material part of the Black Lion was destroyed and her quintessence was only transferred and eventually became a soul. That Zarkon eventually found the remains of Black in space and had her reconstructed as close to her original state as possible, but it was just an empty shell without the sentience or quintessence of Black, and therefore, useless. So Zarkon pretty much hid her 'corpse' and kept it close, until he started sensing the bond from somewhere else, specifically the X-9-Y system, and found Shiro.
> 
> But where will he get more quintessence-infused allow to repair Black, but from another dimensional rift comet? Which would have screwed up Lotor's plans of getting one many millennia ago, because Zarkon would have made it a priority along with searching for Voltron. But will that mean that Lotor approaches the Alteans for help instead of just deceiving them, or even allying with Allura earlier once the Paladins reappear? Maybe Haggar harvested the Altean Empire reality of its quintessence and solved the Empire's energy shortage in the process.  
It would make Shiro/the Black Lion even more willful and autonomous than the Red Lion, but functioning without a Paladin may only allow him to use a fraction of his full power and abilities.


	2. BLACK—break my brain (or the one where space lion magic breaks Matt)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> (An AU of the AU where Shiro is the the reincarnation of the Black Lion.) 
> 
> Or: the one where Shiro becomes a mechanical winged lion, destroys the Galra cruiser to save Matt and Sam, and pretty much jump-starts both the Earth defense and Paladin search on their own even before the Alteans come up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Warnings: None **
> 
> **Tags:** Reincarnation, Black Lion Shiro, silliness
> 
> Posted on Tumblr on 12/31/19
> 
> Still part of the “BLACK—break my ” AUs, well, more of an AU of an AU.
> 
> The question: “What if the Black Lion appeared on Kerberos?” came up and this basically wrote itself.
> 
> Just a lot more ridiculousness involving Black Lion!Shiro.

**Previously:** _The landing on Kerberos was supposedly a breathtaking affair, but Shiro only felt the thrum of silence, of something waiting to happen. Whatever it was, the sight of the alien—Galra warship, how did he know this?—spacecraft wasn’t it either. Everything felt too familiar. Somewhere deep down, he knew them all, understood every alien syllable spoken and felt anticipation and homecoming._

But there was no time to dwell on that. Victory or death. It was engraved somewhere in his being. The Empire will harm them for one reason or another. Matt and Sam need to get to safety NOW.

Shiro fought his captors, wrapped both Holts in his arms and _roare͝d̛͝ ̧̕a͜ņ͏d̵ ̵she̸d͟͝ h͠͠is͡ h͘͢ư̛m̶̕͝a̶n̛i̧ţ͠y̨͡ ̧aņ͞d͏̷ h͘͞ę̷ b̷e̶̕c̸̨am̢ę̵ ̕h͝͝e͏̛r ͏a̧͘͠n̷͘d̵ ̧s̢̕w̧a̵l̛͢ļ͡ow͜e͡d̸ ̷he̛͞ŗ ͝pr҉̴e҉ci̡͠o͟ư̴s̷͘͟ ̸̕͜c͘ą̴rgo҉ ҉a͘͞n̛d̸ ͝c͏͝a̷̶̡me̡̛ ̷͡u̴̧p̨͘o̸͡n̴ ̛th̶̡e͢͠ ͞͝s̕h͠͝ip̛ ̴w̴̧͝i͘͢t̷h ͘҉̧a̷ ̢͝v͡e̡͞n̨̛g͢e̡an̕ce͢ ̨͢͏__a͡nd f͢e̢l͝l l͠ik̴e a͘ sta͞r҉.͞..̢_

_..._

When he came back to his senses, the first thing he noticed was the desert sky through an open window and a lumpy couch beneath him, then the sight of the crater he—she? Made when they? When they—landed. Sam and Matt came to him with worried faces.

"Shiro, are you alright?" Sam asked.

"Sir, I—I couldn't let them get you both...they'll take what they want and kill everyone." Shiro paused, as if just realizing what he had just said. "I don't know how I know that."

"Calm down. Here, let's get you up. Have some water."

Shiro drank his fill. "What happened?" he asked.

Matt was silent at first, and then, "Shiro, buddy, you turned into a mechanical lion. And you swallowed dad and I up—which is gross by the way, but you. Became. A mechanical lion. With wings..."

"Matt, your suit..."

"...shredded an alien ship like it was paper. Then flew us back to Earth in less than two minutes, crashed and brought us to some desert shack in the middle of the desert. And then you were human, and naked. Naked. And curled over us. While naked. We had to donate our suits for the cause, because it's not like we're the idiot who crashed into the atmosphere and burned his clothes away." 

Matt then barreled into his torso and hugged the hell out of him, sniffing wetly. "What the heck, man?"

Shiro blinked blearily. "I'm...I'm sorry."

"Don't be, Takashi," Sam said. "You just saved us from hostile aliens. If anything, we should be thanking you."

"Yeah, dude. It's just...it kind of adds up to everything weird about you? Now that I think about it. You can apparently turn into a...telepathic magical alien winged lion ship thing," Matt frowned. "It sounds a lot more ridiculous saying it aloud. Huh.”

Sam patted Shiro’s head, saying, “Go get some more rest, okay? Breaking the laws of physics and sanity took a big toll on you. You still look like you might keel over."

"I feel like it." And Shiro's eyes closed.

Matt spent the next few minutes watching his friend and helping his father look around the shack for supplies and equipment when he suddenly stopped. 

"Fuck. Everyone within a few hundred mile radius had to have seen the debris. Shiro managed to make a stealthy landing and all but everyone must be freaking out when our signal disappeared. How are we going to explain this to the Garrison?"

**\- Later:**

Matt almost had a heart attack when the door unceremoniously opened and someone called out, "Matt Holt?"

The brunet froze but relaxed after seeing the mullet and striking violet eyes. "Murder duckling!" he exclaimed. "How did you find us in this abandoned shack of horrors in the middle of nowhere?"

"This is my place," Keith replied, brows furrowed. He studied Matt, observed that he was well and in one piece, then asked, "Where's Shiro? And Commander Holt?"

Completely ignoring the fact said three astronauts were supposed to be on the edge of the solar system right now. Matt let out a snort.

Typical Keith.

"Shiro's alright, mostly. Just resting. Dad's out of it too. They're borrowing your couch, and floor mattress, I guess. How did you know?"

"I had this feeling I would find Shiro here."

Matt smiled ruefully. How could he forget. "Of course, gotta love your Shiro-dar. It's like you have him on a mental GPS or something." He perked up at the sight of Keith's groceries and made grabbing gestures with his hands. "Oh, food. Gimme."

Keith handed him a bag. The brunet dug in and found a can and opened it.

"Canned meat," Matt declared rapturously, looking like he might just cry. "This looks like dog food and smells like dog food. But it would be an improvement over space rations any day."

Keith gave an unimpressed frown. "You didn't raid the fridge, did you?"

"Seriously?," Matt wrinkled his nose. "I didn't even want to touch it. It smelled like something _died_ in there."

"That's the coyote meat," Keith deadpanned and laughed at his horrified face.

The astronaut and the cadet then spent the next few minutes attempting to make something edible from Keith's supplies.

"Tell me. How did you guys get here? What happened?"

"Well, it's kind of a weird and crazy story, but it started with aliens..."

"Aliens?"

Keith's expression was equal parts curious and determined.

Matt nodded solemnly. "Aliens."

**\- Much later:**

"Keith?"

"Shiro!"

"Matt!" Matt piped up.

"Matt, I love you man, but let us please have a moment to ourselves."

"Yeah. Don't you have radio transmissions to monitor or a call to make or something? There could be more aliens out there."

"I already called Katie and mom and they're coming by in a day or two. But sure, I'll leave you two to 'reacquaint' yourselves."

Cries of "Matt" came from two different directions.

**\- Much, much later:**

"So, Sir, how does this work again?"

"It's just Sam. Your alien knowledge seems to be innate, so we're putting it to the test by having you answer questions without thinking about it. Just let the words come out."

"I understand. Knowledge on the Galra is the only advantage we could get at the moment with the large gap between our technology, no matter how outdated it could be."

"Yes, barring the moment with your...transformation."

"I'll try to figure out how I did it because it seems to be our only chance of having an edge over them."

"But you're not allowed to push yourself too hard. It took a lot out of you the first time. Now, what can you tell me about the Galra?"

"They're a warrior race hailing from the planet Daibazaal. Bipedal, tall and generally colored in a spectrum of purple to grey hues, genetically varied but mostly covered in fur or scales. Their most interesting trait is their environmental adaptability and viability of inter-species reproduction. They also live by the code of "victory or death". Not a race one would want to contend with."

"I see. You seem to know a lot about them."

_"My Paladin hailed from their proud and honorable race."_ Shiro blinked in surprise once he registered his words.

Sam gave him a comforting pat on the shoulder and continued. "And who were they?"

_"Zarkon, leader of the Galra, who ruled ten thousand deca-phoebes ago..."_

"Deca-phoebes?"

"The rough equivalent of a year, maybe longer. Might want to update your universal glossary, Sam."

**\- Much, much, much later: **

"Shiro, where are you going? Uh...are you sleepwalking? Shiro?"

Keith's mentor and brother-figure moved in an almost trance-like state, alien and sure in his movements. He was also walking out in the cold desert in the middle of the night in pajamas and a tank top while bare-footed.

_"My sister is waiting, cub. I know you can feel her presence."_

"I do feel something, but," Keith bit his lip. "Let's do this in the morning. We'll make the Holts worry if they don't find us on our beds when they wake up. And it's too cold out. Ta-Takashi? Please."

Shiro looked at him, his half-lidded eyes glowing with a strange yellow light.

_"Very well,"_ he rumbled. _"Tomorrow then."_

**\- The morning after:**

"Dad, wake up. They're gone."

"What?"

"Keith left a note. Shiro found something and Keith's with him. They'll be back, right?"

"They should be fine—Keith!"

"Sorry for worrying you two. There's something you both need to see."

**\- After after:**

"It's a blue lion."

"It is a 'she'."

"Oh."

"My..._sister, the Blue Lion, Guardian of the Seas,"_ Shiro-Black announced with a palpable happiness and daresay...nervousness? 

The pilot continued. _"Blaytz of Nalquod was her Paladin, and she treasured his friendship and loyalty deeply."_

"Simply marvelous," whispered Sam.

Matt gaped at Blue, a thousand questions on the tip of his tongue. Not knowing which one to ask first first, the engineer ended up with a stammered, "Uh...Hi?"

Sam raised a brow. "Son, you're looking at what is possibly the greatest technological and mystical marvel from 10,000 years ago and the only think you can say is 'Hi.' "

"She's a very beautiful machine, I don't want to sound creepy, and it feels like she's watching us, okay?" 

Matt turned back to the mechanical lion and slowly approached Shiro's 'sister' or fellow Lion or whatever.

He muttered, "Please don't eat me," before walking closer. 

Tried not to imagine the Blue Lion turning to him, eyes glowing before its mouth opened wide to swallow them whole, the way the much bigger Black Lion did on Kerberos while alien fire rained down on them. Then Shiro meowed in his ear.

Matt screamed.

Keith came in running a few moments later, a knife in hand, only to be confronted by the sight of his mentor giggling, Sam fighting a smile, and Matt raving about vengeance while trying to poke Shiro in the ribs.

“Really?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes an idea can be something as simple as doing it backwards. What if Keith started out as the Black Paladin and became Red, if Lance started out as Red and became Blue? What if Allura, who had replaced a dead Blaytz as the Blue Paladin, knew what her father will do and pushed a wounded Alfor into cryostasis, so that the new Paladins meet a king out of time and the AI copy of his long dead daughter?
> 
> Shiro-as-the-Black-Lion idea, which I dubbed as the "BLACK-break my AU" didn't start out as it was. It started with the fact that Black held Shiro's essence/quintessence/soul in her Astral plane for around 3 seasons and some people hypothesized that Shiro merged with the Black Lion is why his body went missing, so now they're both the Black Lion.
> 
> And then the (admittedly hilarious and cracky at the time) idea came: what if Shiro always was the Black Lion or Black became Shiro? And everything that it entailed, like shuffling two widely different bodies between real space and astral space, the evolution and adjustments of being a semi-sentient machine that became a sentient living organic being and all the developmental/emotional/philosophical baggage (because the Lions, complicated, magical and mysterious machines are merely just machines infused with quintessence), all the sexual innuendos Lance would say to Black Paladin Keith, 'dumping' Zarkon like a bad boyfriend...and then it went to thinking about the Paladin-Lion bond and how it all happened. And then, suddenly, it wasn't that funny anymore.
> 
> The How: the theory is that only Voltron (or any other thing made of trans-dimensional quintessence-infused ore) can possibly destroy itself, like the rule of diamonds. And there was one unspoken cardinal rule I noticed in both canon and fandom: the Lions, Voltron, never ever turns on itself. So in order for Black to be destroyed (and catalyzed into existential evolution) in the first place, that rule had to be broken. And that is how this happened:


	3. With Sarcasm and Extreme Prejudice (for the only good person is a dead one)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> James Bond-esque AU. In which the Riddles are a family of ex-spies and assassins.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Warnings: implied murder, canonical non-con**

Wherein the Riddles are a family of ex-spies and assassins, who fooled their neighbors with their (mostly) snobbish aristocrats act.

Mary Riddle was a nation-less (Russian?) assassin, who tried to kill agent Thomas Riddle a few times (and vice versa).

Thomas eventually got his early ‘retirement due to occupational injury’, Mary (birth name unknown) got burned and stranded on British soil.

They ended up marrying each other, carting Mary’s arsenal of knives and sharper implements in her wheeled wardrobe of DOOM™ into the Riddle Estate.

Tom Riddle Sr., unfortunately, ended up following their footsteps, and turned out to be quite the successful ‘psychopath’.

Poor Cecilia, charmed by a wolf in sheepskin but was spared; poor, tragic Merope, who coerced the wrong Prince Charming and thought she could get away with it.

Tom Riddle Sr. looked at his son, saw a whole world of possibilities and potential harm for a ‘halfblood’, and decided to give him all the tools and knowledge necessary to succeed.

And that is how Tom Marvolo Riddle was basically raised by a family of professional cold-blooded killers; the Wizarding World will never know what hit them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Posted in Tumblr
> 
> Really old ‘What-If’ idea that combines: Tom Riddle Sr. did not run away + sociopath/psychopathic Riddle family + spy AU (a.k.a. what you get when you connect Harry Potter, WW2, and James Bond)
> 
> Mary Riddle's wardrobe full of weapons is directly inspired by Tattersail's luggage in the book "Malazan Book of the Fallen 1: Gardens of the Moon" by Steven Erikson. It's a high fantasy series that has as much of a body count as Game of Thrones but with less politics and more magic. I like reading it more than Game of thrones but that's just due to personal taste.


	4. Hellhound—we carry our dead

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wherein the Hatake carry their dead with them via a form of semi-possession.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Warnings: death, semi-possession **
> 
> **Tags:** fangirl Rin, slight Kakashi/Minato, Obito & Rin & Kakashi

  
  


It is well-known that the Hatake Clan originated from samurai and farmers, that they are both more subdued in behavior but even stronger and wilder in instinct than the Inuzuka. It is also known that a member would sometimes take on mannerisms of someone close who died, and sometimes they never mourn and act on as if the deceased are not gone. A disturbing eccentricity not unlike the hate-fueled madness of the Uchiha. 

(Now, if only others knew the truth.)

  


Or: The Hatake dense white chakra allows one to house at least one non-Hatake soul as they die, somewhat like a form of semi-possession. Sakumo did it to his wife as she lay dying from childbirth, so Kakashi grew up with both parents...somewhat, until they were killed (so far away Kakashi couldn't take them even if he tried).

Around thirteen years later, Kakashi uses it to save his friend Rin as she committed suicide via chidori. Now, Kakashi has to live with Rin not only knowing about all his secrets, like his crush on Minato-sensei, but also the fact that Obito may actually be alive (because he tried to do it to the Uchiha and it didn't work.)

  


\+ Hatake can actually take on more than one deceased person, but it takes a toll on them. Each person adds to the chakra well and causes it to become bigger and denser; too much and they get overwhelmed and go insane. At least one particular Hatake individual managed twelve people, but they were...very strange, even for the clan

\+ Kakashi takes on Rin's mannerisms and knowledge (at least on the outside), others are understandably disturbed

\+ Rin is actually responsible for Kakashi's Icha Icha reputation, the giggling being her fan-girling over the fictional couples while Kakashi the clueless asexual does not get it (they both love the romantic plot though. A lot.)

\+ Sukea is actually Kakashi's photography and touring hobby as a counter to Rin's Icha Icha reputation

\+ in which Obito ends up observing Kakashi-Rin and gets very confused, because that's both Kakashi and Rin's chakra signature in there

+** Founders Era spin-off:** Wherein Tobirama Senju is half-Hatake, and after trying to take in Kawarama and Itama (and perhaps failing or succeeding) he did it with Izuna, because no older brother and sensor should ever suffer the agony of witnessing their beloved little brother die, even if they are the enemy and his Anija's best friend.

++ Hashirama is sad. Madara doesn't react too well. At all. Everyone not in the know is horrified. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dated 8/9/19
> 
> One of the creepier ideas that had plagued my brain for a while.


	5. Tobirama's No Good Very Bad Vacation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A/B/O AU: Tajima and Tobirama are stuck on a death island, and Tobirama's heat approaches. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My brain likes thinking about hypothetical scenarios. And crack pairings.
> 
> The Tajima/Tobirama one I kept coming back to is where Tajima went missing on a mission, Butsuma and Tobirama went on some errand involving merchants and somehow got involved with slavers/smugglers. That ended up with Butsuma fighting off pirates alone on a ship, and Tajima and Tobirama stuck on a death island with only each other for company. Oh, and Hashirama and Madara having the time of their lives doing anything else that isn't starting a war.

Tajima disappeared while on a mission which left Madara as acting clan head. And Butsuma and Tobirama escort some merchants to the coast (leaving Hashirama in charge) and somehow get entangled with smugglers and slavers and pirates. Then Butsuma fights pirates and Tobirama (who was held in a different ship) ends up stranded on a death island with the missing Tajima.

Insert lots of snark and death threats and distrust (and forced cooperation to survive). And because it's actually an A/B/O AU, Tobirama goes into a really inconvenient heat, and his teenage hormones looks at the respectfully distant alpha (because Uchiha know exactly how dangerous omegas are) and goes "Oh no, he's hot."

Enter Tobirama's really horrible no good month stuck on an island with the father of his rival.

...

Tobirama spends an entire week humiliated and bothered and horny. He knows that the Uchiha isn't really being distant because of respect, but because omegas either love being smothered by attention or aloofly seek it like a cat when someone's playing hard to get (he knows because he's the latter and that damn bastard's strategy is working.)

It doesn't help that his pheromones have also been driving the animals nuts. By day three, he's been humped by five—_fucking _five!—different predators instead of being eaten (out—oh no nonono stupid hindbrain stop that thought right now) and Tajima is just being a right smug bastard. Then after the week from Hell (thank the Kami it's over) he gets kidnapped to be a virgin sacrifice of some cannibal tribe of island natives—can't the universe just give him a break for once?!

Tajima, the infuriating asshole, just has to open his mouth and make the Senju feel worse. "You know, you wouldn't be having this problem if you'd had your cherry popped in the first place."

Tobirama, glaring so hard he might as well be trying to set the Uchiha clan head on fire, lets out a hiss. "How. Dare. You."

[Meanwhile...]

Butsuma becomes the unofficial leader of a slave rebellion and gets a peg leg (and the title of Pirate Lord), and is forced to return without his son. And ends up in a neutral zone that Hashirama and Madara 'negotiated' (bullied) into existence. And after a very embarrassing avalanche of events (that include a lot of screaming and flailing and things being set on fire or dragged into the earth or strangled in plant life) where everyone significant figures out that both Tobirama and Tajima may be in the same place...

Izuna rolls his eyes at Hashirama's increasingly ridiculous panicked antics. "Oh, don't worry about the White Oni." He snorts at the idea of his rival in peril. The Uchiha is confident of his father's might and prowess, yes, but the albino is a demon in the battlefield. Totally inhuman. "Father won't touch him unless he laughs or snarks back at his lame ass jokes."

Butsuma, thinking of his son's rather awkward stalking phase (of certain bachelor alphas easily twice and thrice his age) during puberty, feels a cold unease crawling up his spine. "What kind of bad jokes are we talking about here?"

Then it was Madara's turn to roll his eyes. "The tasteless and morbid kind."

Hashirama remembers his little brother's secret fondness for gallows humor and wails in despair. Then Butsuma, overwhelmed by alpha protective rage and stress from his still recovering injuries, clutches at his chest and finally collapses.

Madara looks at the Senju dramatics with growing disbelief and horror. "You have got to be kidding me."

Then, Hashirama's brain decided now was the perfect moment to work again, as the Senju heir stills...then glomps him, exclaiming, "Wait. We can have peace now!" Then squeezes Madara tighter (to his little brother's initial amusement.). "We're going to be family!"

Izuna then trips over nothing. "No! I refuse to acknowledge this reality," came the high-pitched screeching, "Aniki, we have to get them back and make everyone forget this ever happened. I would rather die than call that Senju 'mother'!" He shudders.

"I second that," Madara yells out, horrified, hugging his best friend in the torso and suplexing him in some strange and desperate way to throw him off.

"But what about peace?" Hashirama yells back, somehow, with his head buried into the dirt. The Uchiha personally finds his reality-breaking idiocy very frightening.

"Who the fuck cares about peace! I want my sanity back."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sourced from conversations with Lilili_cat (https://archiveofourown.org/comments/252449636) and CreativeSweets (https://archiveofourown.org/comments/264619657)


	6. Demon Child

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Tobirama is a half-Uchiha bastard.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been having one of those ideas-tangled-in-many-headfanons about Demon-child!Tobirama that wouldn't go away.
> 
> You know those insults and gossip about Tobirama being a bastard (because of his eyes and hair) in some fics?
> 
> What if it was true? 

In which Tobirama is half-Uchiha, and ironically the apple of Butsuma's eye. 

Lady Senju tried to abort him before, but Tobira survived the attempt and was born premature. 

Then he was abandoned/left behind (to die of starvation or wildlife) after birth, but was saved by Butsuma in a twist of fate, and raised by the man's summons (when he was too busy fighting). 

And Tobira was so small and near-blind and defenseless for such a long time, the leopards gave him fur (which he always kept with him) to keep warm and they showed him how to use his teeth and claws to defend himself.

And the clan dislikes him more because of his heritage than his cold attitude (which got worse when Butsuma ordered their silence on the matter of Tobirama's paternity and adopted him, but that didn't stop them from hating and silently insulting the him).

Years later, his distrust and paranoia of the Uchiha is due to projection, self-hate and loss. And maybe one day, after the village is built, someone calls out "Uchiha bastard" and Madara or Izuna is moments away from beating the shit out of whoever spoke. 

Except they weren't the ones being addressed but Tobirama instead...

Tobirama's everything starts making sense to Madara and Izuna when they perceive/treat him like a Senju-raised Uchiha, and it's _weird_.

\+ Tobirama once desperately tried to get Lady Senju to like him by finding and killing his birth father, but gets labelled a kinslayer instead; they couldn't quite call him that outside the clan, so he was dubbed the 'White Demon'

**\+ twin/littlest brother Tobira AU:** In which Lady Senju was already pregnant with Kawarama or Itama when Tobirama was conceived a la superfetation

**\+ river meetings AU:** In which young Hashirama is already an unapologetic snoop with a big mouth. (a.k.a. the one where Hashirama freaks out over his little brother's true heritage and unloads it all on his new BFF Madara. Cue Madara's turn to freak out.)

**\+ special needs/blessings AU:** Wherein all Uchiha are actually born white haired and red-eyed, and they only receive the protection of dark hair and dark eyes after being presented and marked by the clan deities. Baby Tobirama eventually contracts an Uchiha-only affliction, forcing Butsuma to talk/negotiate with Tajima.

**\+ going about it backwards AU:** Wherein Tobirama's heritage is successfully kept secret even after Konoha is built, and his attempts at getting along with his other clan start to freak out the Uchiha. (Or: the one where Tobirama tries to learn how to be an Uchiha, minus the part where he actually tells them he is one.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One of the rare AUs where being proud of being Butsuma's son is a very good thing.
> 
> It started out quite simple, but the plotbunnies started multiplying after I managed to write it down...
> 
> Sourced from conversations with Lilili_cat (https://archiveofourown.org/comments/267238120)


	7. Sun-Eater

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Hux had grown fond of the Bastard. His mother would have loved him._  

> 
> Hux is on a personal quest to avenge his mother (and ultimately off himself in the process). Kylo Ren, as usual, ruins everything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Warnings: cannibalism, murder, violence **
> 
> This is an incomplete fill for a Star Wars TFA prompt back in 2016 and the first fanfic I have ever written. I wrote this shortly before information like Hux's first name or the fact that he is a bastard came out so this is mostly non-canonical. Enjoy.

There is a monster on board the Finalizer, and not even Kylo Ren is privy to its existence. 

It lurks in the shadows of corners and unknown spaces, a predator in the dark. It thrives under daylight and open fields, hiding its hollowness behind a veil of civility. It wears General Hux's face.

* * *

[In the beginning, Death]

* * *

The sound of screaming is accompanied by blaster fire, the roar of dogfighter engines and falling debris. The smell of scorched earth, burned flesh and metallic blood dominates the air. Little Adalind is held by his mother's still warm corpse, eyes unseeing, the flower crown he made woven into her hair. Ash marks mar the pretty face, frozen in a snarl, framed by a halo of fiery red. Nimble fingers---rough and blemished by the calluses of hard labor---lay broken, caked flesh wet underneath Igna Pendella's nails. Somewhere near, a Rebel has matching scratches on his arms and a large tear in his throat. The earth trembles.

Everything around little Adalind is a tumultuous kaleidoscope of sound and motion, but he is deaf and blind in his cocoon of cooling flesh. Unmoving like one of the dead. 

* * *

Young Adalind Pendella, sometimes called 'little hatchling' or 'dragon', is a waif easily misplaced, a sprite in the wind. That child, small for his age, with only droids and his child-minded mother for company, has mastered the art of disappearing into the shadows of corners and unknown spaces. Completely uncontested in games of hide-and-go-seek, a simple yet crucial accomplishment. His mother's murderers move on, unaware of the prey hiding mere inches away.

Scouts from Imperial reinforcements find him three days later. One of them loses two fingers; the other, an ear. Adalind is treated for shock, dehydration and minor injuries. The Commandant spares two minutes of his time, no more, no less, wherein his son dutifully hides in the comfort of his stoic shadow. Adalind's feverish bout of cannibalism is never mentioned in their conversation of pure silence.

* * *

The infirmary is a mess of scurrying bodies, body fluids and death. Adalind is a nobody, a mere number among hundreds. He is invisible. Inexistent. And adults talk unfiltered when they think no one is listening. The Rebellion attack on a civilian world was unwarranted, if it were not for the coincidental presence of an Imperial fleet stopping by for emergency repairs. As Adalind hears more, his closed fists tremble harder until his nails cut into skin and leave blood. The habit persists even in his adulthood.

* * *

He is five years old when he loses his home. The Rebellion has won, and the Empire lies in shambles. Defeat is a fate worse than death, he learns, but even worse than that, is the loss itself. His mother has been an ever-present manifestation of all the good things in his life. The Rebellion killed her, and now, he can't keep anything of hers, not even her ashes. His only consolation is that he has inherited her appearance, but even that is a poor substitute.

As the Imperial ships leave for the Outer Rim, Adalind makes a vow. He will see the New Republic burn to ashes, until there is nothing left of them to find.

* * *

Eleven years to the day of her death, Hux, drunk on grief and feeling a bit reckless, takes a leave of absence and buys a dress and a make-up kit on a whim, just the way his mother liked. He fixes himself up, trying to recall the shade on the curves of her eyes and the hue of her cheeks. Until the reflection on the mirror resembles her, only with slightly shorter hair and slimmer hips. Adalind spends the rest of the day in the get-up, moving around with a half-remembered grace, if only to keep her sanity. Two weeks later, Hux buys a wig the same shade as his hair.

* * *

[the General and the Dragon]

* * *

They say Cadet Hux makes an exemplary if quiet student. His grades are well above excellent, his ethic more so. His fellow cadets carry along the dreams and ambitions of the glory of the Old Empire, of reclaiming their rightful place in the galaxy. He, on the other hand, keeps a far simpler goal, but he has to get to the top to see it thoroughly done. The truly ambitious ones, those zealots in the ranks of the Commandant's finest, scoff and sneer at what they see as their lesser, and Hux indulges them in their perceived self-importance. 

It is he who graduates with the highest marks in Imperial history, his father a stony silhouette in the background. Adalind Pendella is a ghost lurking in the shadows of corners and unknown spaces; he is no one. Armitage Hux is a beacon under broad daylight and open fields; a rose among the thorns. He has yet to rise beyond the shadows, but he is getting there. The old Imperials see a young man emulating his father's legacy, and he does not bother to correct their assumptions.

* * *

His first kill is his superior officer, fresh from deployment. The captain is a conceited and spoiled man, rummaging through his subordinates' things for blackmail material, exchanging leniency for sexual favors especially from 'the pretty ones'. The captain is a thug and a bully who makes the mistake of going through Hux's meager belongings and calling him on his 'fetish'. 

The man is found two weeks later in an open field, castrated corpse kneeling in supplication, throat torn open and plugged with his own cock, mouth full of congealed blood. They never find his tongue. Elsewhere, Hux wonders if Resistance flesh tastes just as sweet and coppery. He dreams of battle and death and a cocoon of half-eaten bloated bodies.

* * *

Adalind was born during a solar eclipse. His mother, Igna Pendella, that child-wife of Brendol Hux, took to heart and faith all the stories of her childhood, ranging from the mystical to the plain bizarre. Her upbringing was worse than traditional, downright uncultivated, and her affair with the Commandant, a great scandal. Technology was foreign to her culture, and she welcomed the household droids with the delighted curiosity of a toddler. Her youthful naivety remained even as she fell with child.

The onset of the eclipse happened at the peak of her labor. Igna, delirious with pain, raved about a great machine dragon swallowing the sun and gave one last push as darkness overcame all. Her son's cries came with the light, and she named her child after the creature that ate and spewed it out.

Out of all her stories, the one about the star-eating dragon is his favorite. And whenever Hux sees a sun's shadow, he remembers and fuels the fire of Adalind's hatred. His superiors never link it to the violent outliers in his otherwise clean kill record.

* * *

Hux makes his way up the ranks like a relentless storm, leaving a swath of casualties in his wake. The rumors of his experience purely being theoretical and simulated tactical training are, sadly, not true. Trainers and field commanders scattered across the Outer Rim can attest that he has earned every moniker and honor through blood, death and destruction. It is just unfortunate everyone privy to the knowledge is dead, both by his hand and circumstance. 

He spreads the rumors around, nonetheless, and gives the expected answers through his psych evaluation. The nurses coo and chide him for his weight and sleeping habits, and he takes it all in good humor. He downs a handful of stimulants upon returning to his quarters and sets to work. He can sleep when he is dead; and he can die once his task is done.

* * *

It takes twelve years of obsessive research and hard work, several promotions and eight dresses before he does the impossible and brings his namesake into the realm of possibility. It is his masterpiece. His magnum opus. The creature lurking within the shadow of Adalind's memories finally brought to light. 

In a fit of whimsy---his mother's influence, no doubt---he names it Starkiller. It feels apt, in a way.

* * *

He is twenty-eight when he makes General. He is described as an exemplar of First Order ideals; a cold shell of a man. He knows his place and plays it well. Many eyes watch him, and he lets them see only what they want to see. 

For Hux is a beacon, a rose among thorns. 

Underneath the mask, Adalind is wary, feeling watchers where there are none. The shadows are not their friends here.

* * *

Supreme Leader Snoke leads the First Order, and Hux defers to his wisdom. Supreme Leader Snoke is a master of the Force, and he makes Adalind's hackles rise. His appearance is skeletal and looming; his presence, overwhelming. He is beyond ancient; something more than dead. But the only thing Hux notices is his pale blue eyes. 

Hux has seen those eyes before. He knows those eyes well, what they can hide. He himself holds a glacier in an arctic storm, and within it, Adalind, caged in an inferno of sea fire. What he sees in Snoke is a tranquil lake, deceptively deep, dark forms lurking underneath, waiting.

He does not look any further. Snoke and the First Order are merely a means to an end. Just as the Supreme Leader uses him and the Order for his purposes. 

And then there is Kylo Ren.

* * *

[the Interloper]

* * *

The General thrives on order and discipline. Every detail is considered, every move meticulously calculated to become part of a greater whole and achieve a common goal. Kylo Ren is unadulterated chaos threatening to spill out at any given moment, a lost volatile mess stranger to his own skin. 

Snoke's apprentice may either be a boon or a risk to his plans of revenge, and Hux should hate him. He has no place for wildcards and unnecessary risks. But Adalind sees only kin, a broken half-formed reflection of theirself. They are at a stalemate.

Hux does not know what to make of Kylo Ren, and that may be his greatest mistake.

* * *

The first few weeks in the Finalizer are a nightmare.

Correction: His co-commander is a walking nightmare.

Kylo Ren destroys his equipment, disrupts his routines and scares his crew. He dares to countermand Hux's orders and strategies, and wastes his time with inane wild-goose chases. And the Force. He has learned more about the Force than he ever needed to know or wanted to do with. His financial statements are weeping; he has never seen so many digits dedicated to emergency repair expenses.

Hux considers the pros and cons of killing his co-commander, and settles with reasoning with him. It is like talking to a wall. He clenches his fists and swallows his patience, and Adalind merely slinks deeper in his memories, laughing.

He has never felt so alive, and he wants to hate himself.

An alarm sounds. A rather---thankfully---unimportant console has just been reduced to a wreck. Hux grits his teeth and makes his way to the scene of the crime.

He may lose the battle, but he will win the war.

He solemnly swears it.

* * *

General Hux's crew are professionals. They are the best, the brightest, and the most loyal, taken from various stations and handpicked by the General himself. They are also not above petty gossip.

The Finalizer has the most extensive, discreet and fastest updating grapevine in the First Order, courtesy of Hux's own organizational desire for maximum efficiency and effectiveness. The General and Kylo Ren, however, are too busy antagonizing each other in power plays to catch on yet, and the crew likes to keep it that way. The Grapevine Elite, in particular, use Conference Room 3B to hold their biweekly meetings.

Their most argued topic: a long standing rumor of General Hux's woman.

It began a year into service when a stormtrooper swore he saw the hem of a dress disappear into the General's private quarters. No one took it seriously at first, and then, other signs appeared. Colonel Kaplan caught a whiff of non-regulation perfume during one of Hux's patrols. Chief Petty Officer Unamo was sure she saw some leftover lipstick on the corner of his mouth during an emergency meeting. A trooper on laundry duty got lucky and managed to retrieve a strand of long auburn hair from his uniform.

They know she exists; what they don't know is her identity.

A popular belief is that the mystery woman is Kylo Ren's own wife or fiancée, explaining the hostility between the two co-commanders. Another is that she is some errant lover Hux picks up during the occasional leave of absence. 

Second-Class Petty Officer Thanisson, no-nonsense unbeliever, is convinced she is actually a 'he', and is General Hux cross-dressing as a woman. His suggestion is shot down quickly.

Ensign Felderik unhelpfully adds that maybe she is Kylo Ren cross-dressing as a woman to Lieutenant Mitaka's quickly paling face.

Utter silence.

* * *

Adalind gracefully removes the wiretap, entertainment gone.

Kylo Ren goes on a tantrum so bad Hux assigns Ensign Felderik to Starkiller Base. Away from the knight.

A week later, Thanisson is promoted to First-Class. He does not know why. He comms fellow investigator Rodinon thus, who does not stop laughing for reasons unspecified.

* * *

It can be said that Kylo Ren does not like General Hux.

He is ambitious, fearless and composed---the epitome of control. His mouth is full of poisoned barbs and he easily weaves half-truths in front of the Supreme Leader without batting an eye. He is the best and worst kind of officer---competent, devious, self-reliant.

The knight finds him despicable. Snoke finds him amusing. 

Hux is full of secrets; he is not to be trusted. 

Kylo can't help but be drawn to him. 

He is doomed.

* * *

[A Man with Two Shadows]

* * *

Hux was sixteen, full of hatred and the utter foolishness of youth, when he unexpectedly encountered one of his mother's killers.

The cadet was out on one of his maddened wanderings, unable to sleep, unable to eat, when he saw him in a cantina. Slouching with eyes bright, a care-free smile in his lips. The man is handsome, generous of frame and twice as tender when drunk, as Adalind soon found out a few hours later.

Rough hands fingered the fabric of her dress before settling on her hips, those smiling lips lavishing kisses at the column of her pale neck, but the redhead swallowed his bile and allowed Adalind to play along. Until he got her in a secluded place. Until a tongue violated him and Hux could not help but bite it down, filling his mouth with copper. A feral kiss swallowed the screams and he finished his handiwork with a stab to the neck and the slide of his knife.

When he returned Hux vomited and took a sick day, spending it alternating between nauseous shame and indignant rage. He burned last night's dress; it was ruined beyond repair.

* * *

**More:**

\- Hux's hunts over the years, and more dress shopping for Adalind

\- Adalind watching Poe's interrogation while Hux fantasizes stabbing the rebel's hands and biting his throat open...or maybe leaving him alive with a gaslow smile and a few missing pieces

\- Adalind goes silent for the first time in years after the Hosnian genocide, bloated on death, and Hux is a bit busy making new plans and looking for Ren while Starkiller implodes

\- the first signs of Adalind and Hux fractures slowly merging together while on the way to the extraction point and after

\- slips of an accent and behavior that lead Resistance intelligence officers to dig into the past of General Ginger Genocide, that eventually led back to an engagement clusterfuck during the last days of the Empire

\- Kylo's return and increasing friction that culminates in a shouting match with Hux accidentally confessing his lack of ambition of becoming the Supreme Leader much less Emperor

\- apparently, having a literal death wish (and a raging alter) means makes Kylo a little bit more civil now...who knew

\- Hux receives intel on a meeting between the Resistance and an influencial planetary governor---the last of his mother's killers and perhaps the worst and most repentant one (but no one gives a shit anymore). Adalind crashes the party dinner, gets mistaken for Igna Pendella by an old family acquaintance, and things escalate quickly.

"Why are you doing this?" the girl from Jakku asks.

"Why does it matter. Hux is obviously insane---"

"_That_ woman is General Hux?! What the kriff..." Pilot almost drops his jaw in disbelief.

"Oh. _Oh_, now it makes sense." The traitor stormtrooper mutters from somewhere behind both.

The governor, ex-Rebel Conyal Wikenel, cries and blubbers apologies and Adalind holds the vibroblade closer to his neck, leaving a long shallow cut. Her smile could cut durasteel. "The only thing that matters is that he knows why." 

Hux smoothly adds, "Republic scum, couldn't even leave her corpse alone, the despicable necrophile. We were there the entire time, you know, hidden under the rubble. You were the only one who came back for seconds." The pilot aiming a blaster at them looks sick. "We'll deal with you first, then the rest of the Resistance."

"General Hux...no, Adalind Pendella." General Organa is _such_ a nosy busybody. "Your mother would not have wanted you to do this. Any of this."

Hux snarls. "Don't you ever presume to know her, princess. She was no killer or fighter, but she gave them hell to keep me safe."

_We need to get this done. Now_, Adalind whispers. _Just kill him like the insignificant speck he is and get it over with._

_He was supposed to be castrated and stuffed into an industrial meat grinder_, Hux reasons, ever the perfectionist. Damnit.

"There's...there's two of them in there. Hux and a...a woman." The scavenger girl looks appalled.

Adalind raises a brow at her. "Get out of our head, girl. Lot's of nasty thoughts lurking around."

"You're both monsters."

"That we undoubtedly are." Adalind can smell an old wound on her, something familiar. "But mother loved us and father anyway."

\- Hux sneers and several things happen succession. A fighter craft shoots at the catwalk, Adalind slices Conyal's jugular and gets shot in the shoulder by Poe Dameron. Hux swandives where the railing broke and pulls his hostage down with him. Kylo catches him in the fighter and Conyal becomes a smear on the ground.

"Hi Kylo," says Adalind. "Really fancy timing there. I'm sure Vader would be proud of your piloting."

Hux sighs.

\- Then they leave the planet after slightly tarnishing the Resistance's reputation using Conyal and his colleages' less reputable activities.

\- Returning to the Finalizer is awkward. Adalind and Hux are still in the dress and the officers are silent because Thanisson won the pot but he's dead.

\- Life and the war go on. Adalind and Kylo talk about constellations, specifically those she learned from Igna, during one of the rare occassions Hux goes planetside. They're friends now, Adalind and Kylo. It's Hux's worst nightmare.


	8. We Only Wanted a Safe (and secret) Place—there’s no more hiding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Bucky is a liar and a killer who definitely doesn't deserve Steve, but god does he love him.

The World Wars started to change how they treated women and omegas.

\- Most women and omega volunteers ended up in auxiliary corps as nurses, pilots and analysts. The luckier and smarter ones worked with intelligence. The Russians never hid the fact they recruited women in their armies, and the rest of the world was starting to follow suit.

\- After Bucky was put into Basic it became apparent he is omega, albeit malnourished. His proficiency for mathematics, coupled with knack for languages, quick wit and passable beta/alpha appearance would have made him an asset for spooks, but the army didn’t want to waste his potential as a sniper.

\- They compromised and Bucky became both spy and assassin, sometimes working on solo missions, sometimes with the cover and support of an entire company (while assigned) as one of their own. When he told Steve he made sergeant in the 107th Infantry Regiment he wasn’t exactly lying some of the time. (And he made up a lot of lies back home, to Steve and his family.)

\- He once assisted in escorting one Dr. Erskine to Queens, earning a short leave he spent with Steve (including a date with him at a Stark Expo), before he was once again deployed.

\- Bucky was bunking with the 107th (after assassinating a Nazi officer in his private ‘office’ and handing out a few sensitive documents to fellow agents), when they were captured by HYDRA. Fortunately, his fellow prisoners were good sports in keeping his real rank secret.

\- When Sergeant Barnes became part of the Howling Commandos, Agent Barnes, assassin and spy, had to completely disappear from every record in existence. His missions were later attributed to a ghost they call the Winter Soldier, a moniker earned after a particular solo mission that left every enemy operator dead during a heavy snowstorm.

\- A sudden onset of illness forced Bucky to sit out a mission to capture Zola. Later, the medic recommends an early military discharge due to his condition; Bucky tells the medic to “shut the hell up and not say a word Steve doesn’t need the distraction”, but pictures a house with a picket fence, a nursery, drawing room and a life with no more lies, fighting and secrets, and thinks, maybe.

\- When Bucky ends up facing a new century (literally or metaphorically), unborn pup kept safe and secret, he finally hangs his rifle (and his secrets) and lets go. The ball is in Steve’s court now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 8/15/18
> 
> What happened because I wanted an A/B/O AU with progressive omega and women’s rights + BAMF omega Bucky with a closet of skeletons (and a touch of desperation) + meeting Dr. Erskine + Bucky and Steve actually going on a date in the past.
> 
> Inspirations for Bucky’s skeleton closet (and all it’s vague implications):
> 
> A Symphony Of War by BlackUnicorn(https://archiveofourown.org/series/935835)
> 
> Matinee Idol by fmo (https://archiveofourown.org/works/2167293)
> 
> The Murder Ballads by BetteNoire (WeAreWolves) (https://archiveofourown.org/series/413774)
> 
> Skin Trade by Defiler_Wyrm 
> 
> (https://archiveofourown.org/works/7698013/chapters/17539789)
> 
> Dressed to Kill by JulieCox 
> 
> (https://archiveofourown.org/works/13904067)


End file.
